handy defence writing practice too... The *hours* spent in the middle of the night at BRNC (on DW not RiW) trying to get all the margins the right width and then writing without mistakes/ink blots, etc don't bear thinking about looking back...

Right up there with sleeping on the floor next to your bed instead of in it the night before SSO's rounds so that you didn't have to make it again in the morning (after the sheets and blankets had been bounce tested for tightness with a 2p piece naturally).

MAA can consist of 'extra work or drill', and you certainly could make reasons in writing that extra work.

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Yeah, thing is you'd have to go through the MAA process before you could issue it, when it was always a short sharp correcting, if not completely humiliating measure, a bit like going behind the hangar with a wrecking bar for ten minutes.

I'm a fan of MAA, having served alongside the Army where it was used. I used to spend most of every Wednesday morning at COLLINGRAD mitigating some baby tiff scrote who had pissed up the side of the church, normally as a crusher lay hid in the bush directly behind him.

This then sharpens my question to asking if one was given it for...shall we say....non attendance at a MERWEX shall we say, then could you quite rightly say 'Ram it, MAA me, I e-mailed you the other day telling you I was not coming'...

handy defence writing practice too... The *hours* spent in the middle of the night at BRNC (on DW not RiW) trying to get all the margins the right width and then writing without mistakes/ink blots, etc don't bear thinking about looking back...

Right up there with sleeping on the floor next to your bed instead of in it the night before SSO's rounds so that you didn't have to make it again in the morning (after the sheets and blankets had been bounce tested for tightness with a 2p piece naturally).

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'Floor next to your bed'???? Try moving to a completely different block the night before ... a good nights gonk and a pristine rack...'

I genuinely don't remember doing either of those things when I was at BRNC. Then again, last Friday I met my SSO for the first time since I passed out, and I was nervous that I'd done something wrong...

Yeah, thing is you'd have to go through the MAA process before you could issue it, when it was always a short sharp correcting, if not completely humiliating measure, a bit like going behind the hangar with a wrecking bar for ten minutes.

I'm a fan of MAA, having served alongside the Army where it was used. I used to spend most of every Wednesday morning at COLLINGRAD mitigating some baby tiff scrote who had pissed up the side of the church, normally as a crusher lay hid in the bush directly behind him.

This then sharpens my question to asking if one was given it for...shall we say....non attendance at a MERWEX shall we say, then could you quite rightly say 'Ram it, MAA me, I e-mailed you the other day telling you I was not coming'...

The days of the 'Shit List' are behind us...

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MERWEX?

MAAs are dead simple to use, just as long as you understand the process, and don't try and slope them off.

MERWEX - An RNR weekend 'training' event which comprises boring old never deployed overweight farts dripping about how the kids of today don't know they were born compared to the glory days of MCM10, while the younger members who are usually operationally experienced veterans quietly grimace and wish it was all over.

I've had to do reasons in writing once, for a particularly **** RNR CO (long retired) after a weekend training evolution went horribly wrong due to the parent unit not letting us get access to a cleaning locker, and one of the officers failing to notice he'd brought mud in to the wardroom. I had to explain in writing why I hadn't inspected my Officers cabin prior to his departing the site.

As for RIW for non attendance at a weekend, I'd politely go tell the RNR to poke it. If you'd turned up for training then buggered off, you'd have been on duty. As you'd advised in advance that you couldnt make it, then you weren't on duty in the first place. Its the petty bullshit like this that causes a lot of people to walk, and the sooner the RNR realises this the better!

And if you think the RNR shit list is behind us, think again. The RNR is one of the most petty and vindictive organisations I've ever encountered and holds grudges for a very long time indeed, often without choosing to explain why its holding a grudge in the first place.

I genuinely don't remember doing either of those things when I was at BRNC. Then again, last Friday I met my SSO for the first time since I passed out, and I was nervous that I'd done something wrong...

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If my in-my-head chronology is right, you were there a year or two before me. My term caught full in the face a "toughening up" kick after criticism that things had been too soft for about 4-5 years preceding us.

To the surprise of no one in particular, about a year after I passed out things were toned down again because "we're not supposed to be running a borstal."

If you catch the right person from not-that-long behind you, you'll hear of all sorts of things you probably didn't have to do. I don't suppose you stood rounds every night for 13 weeks except when not on ACE (and had your cabin trashed for minor infractions bad-lads-army style - irons launched through windows for not being dry, the *inside* of taps checked for drips, etc), doubled everywhere at all times, and wore headgear indoors everywhere except in your cabin, the chapel, and the JGR either?

One of the most remarkable things about BRNC is that while nothing ever seems to change, the experience is actually wildly different from one year to the next - which is one of the reasons I usually smile when there's yet another thread about which iron to take.

In my experience that was almost entirely due to the whim of the incumbent Cdre. The difference I found between ratings training, where the pipeline was controlled by a tightly worked contract between Fleet, NRTA and the training establishments and resulted in a defined and stable output, and BRNC where there was no such thing and basically Fleet got whatever BRNC decided to push out. Murder for the staff when the Cdre changed and so did the training philosophy. The memory of the introduction of the 7 week training cycle still make me break out in a sweat....

As for RIW for non attendance at a weekend, I'd politely go tell the RNR to poke it. If you'd turned up for training then buggered off, you'd have been on duty. As you'd advised in advance that you couldnt make it, then you weren't on duty in the first place. Its the petty bullshit like this that causes a lot of people to walk, and the sooner the RNR realises this the better!

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Well it rather depends on what the consequences of not going is. The RNR do after run on the Training Authorisation Order process, units may have incurred unrecoverable travel costs and the training may be impacted by the non-attendance. In which case some form of why might be warranted, though not to BRNC levels of pish mind you.

Attending one of the more geographically challenged units I'm constantly amazed by the drop out rate (and indeed last minute drop in rate) from Southern units. I appreciate that life happens but given we incur well over £100 per person per weekend in travel costs for almost every weekend our threshold to "life" seems to be more conducive to our turning up when we say we will. As an aside I wonder if that is why our PSIs seem to have no trouble booking accommodation at allegedly difficult locations...

I recall a Malaysian Intnl SLt who took great delight in dishing out RiW to Term 1s Mids who incurred his displeasure on EMAs. His ability to spot grammar and punctuation errors was a legend. Far better than any native speaker. Noone ever got it right first time.

I think the key thing, as I was always taught, is that for RiW, there has to be some element of 'Blame' or 'Guilt'. We've all seen jumped up Subbies spitting out RiW at Dartmouth with an enthusiasm that would shame Roland Friesler. It gave me some pleasure as I progressed through my 'career' to see some of these people end up at Courts Martial for offences rather more serious than not locking the halyards at BRNC....

I should add, perhaps terrifyingly for those still in, that as an ex officer having had DW beaten into me has actually been the most useful thing I learned in the RN... Scarily, more people in civvy land do actually care than anywhere in the mob post BRNC.